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SI.com '03 Draft Predictions

Hello, my name is J. Felders, and I am NOT the Suns' GM. We just share the same name, that's all. Today marks the start of the most hyped NBA draft since the 2000 inaugural draft , and this analyst is here to bring you his thoughts on how this draft should go.

(NOTE: To all GMs who may read this, my word is not gospel. I'm just a rookie guy here at SI.com, the last thing I need is an inbox full of hate mail from bitter fans.)

Now that that's out of the way, let's begin, shall we?

#1 - LeBron James, Bulls
Duh.

#2 - Dwayne Wade, Clippers
With the loss of Larry Hughes to FA and T-Mac holding down the fort at the 3, Wade is the perfect combo guard to double up at the SG & PG slots. I like Jay Williams, but you never know what he'll do. Special prayers to PrepP.

#3 - Carmelo Anthony, Rockets
Rasheed who? Major props to the Rockets for securing a bright future. Wally Z is not a viable starter, so in comes Carmelo. Word is, he can play the 4 as well. Hornets78 loves playing with strategies, he'll have a lot to work with. Houston, your problems are fading.

#4 - Kirk Hinrich, Nuggets
Oh, I can hear the fanboys screaming now. Look, Bosh can only play the 4 at this point. Oh, wait, you've got Nene. Well, maybe Bosh can play the 5? Oh, hi there Sam Dalembert. You know what you don't have? A PG. Enter Captain Kirk. Beam him up, Busta.

#5 Chris Bosh, Mavericks
Bosh is back in Texas. Dallas had back-to-back finals appearances under the leadership of all-time great Karl Malone. They hope Bosh will follow in his footsteps.

#6 Boris Diaw, Magic
Hey, is it unfair of me to call picks 4-6 the "Tank Trio"? Just putting that out there. (Sorry coltsguy, you know I'm rooting for ya!) Anyway, don't sleep on Boris Diaw. He could've easily gone 4th in my opinion. Honestly, the only positions he can't quite play are center (currently held down by Eddy "Big Spicy" Curry) and point guard (stay tuned). 3-for-1 is a good deal in my eyes.

Great idea. Always love to see other GM's input and opinions. Reading the articles really make this league fun to me. Thanks so much for the "special" prayers too man. Those are the best kind! But seriously I appreciate it. Keep up the good work!

Oh, by the way, I'm not even paying attention to so-called "potential" ratings. Otherwise, we'd have some...unorthodox predictions, and even I'm not that crazy.

#11 - T.J. Ford, Heat
To be honest, this team is quite stacked with good young talent.....everywhere except point guard. T.J. might just be able to fill that role.

#12 - Travis Outlaw, Pistons
Pistons hoped there'd be at least one big-time guy left to pair with AI....nope. I almost put them going with Darko here, but who better than an Outlaw to help try to bring the Bad Boys back?

#13 - Leandro Barbosa, Knicks
Let's be real here: The Knicks don't even need this pick. Seriously, look at them. But, since they do, they'll go with Barbosa, a solid combo guard who can back up Tony at PG and Mason at SG. Just another cog in the wheels of maybe the best young squad around.

#15 Darko Milicic, Spurs
Spurs hoping an impact player would still be around to help ease the pain of Pippen's retirement (you will be missed, Scottie)......nope. Darko's here, though, and can get right to work on helping that pitiful frontcourt. Even if he's a bust, it's still better than what they have.

BONUS PREDICTIONS!
#16 - David West, Nuggets
See, fanboys? This is why you don't need to draft Bosh 4th. D-West slips in at #16, and provides frontcourt assistance without creating a logjam or must-trade situation. Buuut, I guess you could draft Bosh and pick PG Steve Blake here.....your call, Busta.

#17 Chris Kaman, T-Wolves
They need a SF, but free-agency is full of 'em. As long as Shaq is in the West, bigger is always better. Kaman can team up with Gasol, Boozer, and Big Meech (Larry Hoover....sorry. Hip-hop reference) to form a pretty good C/PF rotation.

#18 Marquis Daniels, Heat
Good backup to a talented squad, and he can play PG. Daniels is a swingman able to play SF, SG, and PG. It's always good to have a guy who can play those positions on your bench, especially PG. Did I mention he can play PG? Because the Heat really need PGs......just sayin'.

ABANDON ALL HOPE, YE WHO PASS THIS POINT.
Picks 19 through 2....aw, who am I kidding. Not much to be had here. The teams who aren't too good...well, these players aren't going to help them out much. The teams who are good.....well, they aren't going to help these players out much. Get it?

Now don't get me wrong, there's some gems left (shout out to Kyle Korver, Jason Kapono, Luke Walton, Matt Bonner, Steve Blake, Nick Collison, etc), but it's really hard to predict when this could end up being trade alley. So I'm out (before my battery dies), and here's good wishes and luck to each and every player, GM, team, and fanbase out there!

Prep just pulled off a sick deal, landing Courtney Alexander from the Warriors. If this trade goes through, this could radically alter the draft. Here's the breakdown:
.Prep's now stacked out of his mind at SF thanks to Alexander's swingman skills, meaning Carmelo's a no-go.
.But, he's also stacked at SG. T-Mac, Courtney, and Q-Rich are good enough to hold down both SG & SF in a tight rotation.
.Now, PG, PF, and C look like Prep's weakest points, espescially PG.

What this means for Prep:
Contender. No doubt.

What this means for the Pacific Division:
Better stock up on guards, yo.

What this means for the Knicks:
"Best young team" may have been a bit premature.

What this means for my prediction:
I still like D-Wade, only now as a pure point guard, no combo stuff, unless Prep feels like giving guys rest at SG. Bosh has a good shot at rising up too, to further solidify the PF/C game. But PG is the big one. Maybe Captain Kirk? Nah......would he really..........uh-uh......maybe?

What this means for the rest of the top 5:
Remember what I predicted, Busta? Heh heh......and speaking of stellar guard combos, how does Wade/Ginobili/Mighty Mouse sound?

Rudy: Big time trade for the Clippers. Definitely had options with this pick. Now they add Courtney Alexander to the fold. They look to have a deeper team then I faced last season. The Warriors have blown up a team that went to the WCF last season. In their minds, they didn't have a championship core and are basically looking to start over in FA. Similar to what we did in Houston last offseason when we signed 7 FAs. Big risk for the Warriors, but in due time the rewards could be worth it. Interesting to see where the Clippers will go with this pick. They're pretty much stacked at every position and even though Jay Williams didn't produce as expected, he's very young and very talented. I know the Rockets are very interested in who they pick as well.

Clippers have always liked Alexander's all around game but his price was drove up in FA last year and they weren't quite ready to contend. After tweaking the roster a little more this past season and lucking out with the 2nd pick in the deepest draft to date, we felt like the time was now. When the opportunity presented itself to add another young , up and coming, versatile guard we jumped on it. We felt like even though we may be overpaying for him, the time is right. He is still a very solid player especially for what we gave up for him. This opens up a lot of opportunities for different lineups and we feel like we can sustain a high level of play even through injuries. Though our franchise has struggled through the early years of the NBA, our GM has stuck to his plan of adding young talent and letting them grow. He has built this team by sticking to his vision all along and making smart moves for the future. We are excited about adding yet another young stud in the upcoming draft that will start for us this year, but we have not decided on who that player will be just yet. One thing is for sure tho, you will be seeing a lot more Red & Blue around L.A. !!!

Rudy: My thoughts on the trade. Lakers were upset in the first round by the Spurs despite having Shaq with Mashburn and Stackhouse. Trust me, that was a tough team to face. However, the first round loss prompted this. I really thought they would give it a go one more year. However, they return Dirk Nowitski and Shawn Marion. Two talented young guys. However, they also have two older veterans in Jamal Mashburn and Jerry Stackhouse. I really think they're gonna look to trade Mashburn unless they go small with Dirk at center and Marion at PF. However, they may look to trade Stackhouse as well and go with a younger team. Huge move.

The Pacers now add Shaq. Listen, he instantly makes them a playoff contender. Add in Jason Richardson and their first round pick. Things are really getting interesting for the Pacers. They still have two years to add pieces to Shaq who is a very loyal guy. You have to love this trade if you're a Pacers fan. He will rival Peyton Manning as the biggest star in Indianapolis.

Clippers have always liked Alexander's all around game but his price was drove up in FA last year and they weren't quite ready to contend. After tweaking the roster a little more this past season and lucking out with the 2nd pick in the deepest draft to date, we felt like the time was now. When the opportunity presented itself to add another young , up and coming, versatile guard we jumped on it. We felt like even though we may be overpaying for him, the time is right. He is still a very solid player especially for what we gave up for him. This opens up a lot of opportunities for different lineups and we feel like we can sustain a high level of play even through injuries. Though our franchise has struggled through the early years of the NBA, our GM has stuck to his plan of adding young talent and letting them grow. He has built this team by sticking to his vision all along and making smart moves for the future. We are excited about adding yet another young stud in the upcoming draft that will start for us this year, but we have not decided on who that player will be just yet. One thing is for sure tho, you will be seeing a lot more Red & Blue around L.A. !!!

Rudy: Hello Prep. Rudy Tomjanovich here. What are you looking at for the 2nd pick? You're team is stacked everywhere. I'm glad I retired now so I don't have to coach against you anymore

Rudy: Hello Prep. Rudy Tomjanovich here. What are you looking at for the 2nd pick? You're team is stacked everywhere. I'm glad I retired now so I don't have to coach against you anymore

Thanks Rudy T. Always a professional. With the second pick we are basically looking for best available player to add depth to what we already feel will be a solid rotation when we add in our second pick. It's always nice to have young guys who can come in and compete and push the rotation players for playing time and keep them on top of their game. So it just depends on who is there at 26. We will look at our list of potential draftees and make a decision based on who we think can contribute in the future. But we are also looking at ways we can possibly move up a couple of picks.

@JeezyF.Baby: Ooh, look at all the comments! Even Rudy T stopped by......Hey, I may finally get that raise now. About those Lakers, good job. Draft-wise it means nothing, other than putting pressure on the Clips to make the best possible choice at #2. Oh, and don't sleep easy, Western Conference........Zo's still here. ;-)

Clippers have always liked Alexander's all around game but his price was drove up in FA last year and they weren't quite ready to contend. After tweaking the roster a little more this past season and lucking out with the 2nd pick in the deepest draft to date, we felt like the time was now. When the opportunity presented itself to add another young , up and coming, versatile guard we jumped on it. We felt like even though we may be overpaying for him, the time is right. He is still a very solid player especially for what we gave up for him. This opens up a lot of opportunities for different lineups and we feel like we can sustain a high level of play even through injuries. Though our franchise has struggled through the early years of the NBA, our GM has stuck to his plan of adding young talent and letting them grow. He has built this team by sticking to his vision all along and making smart moves for the future. We are excited about adding yet another young stud in the upcoming draft that will start for us this year, but we have not decided on who that player will be just yet. One thing is for sure tho, you will be seeing a lot more Red & Blue around L.A. !!!

Why are you talking in 3rd person?
Who's we?
Is there more than one person running your team? I'm sure there's rules against that.